Obama Struggling to Gain Support for Pacific Trade Deal

President Barak Obama is pushing hard to get lawmakers to support a bill that would allow him to finalize a monumental trade accord with 11 countries spanning the Pacific Rim. The president's lobbying efforts have included giving legislatures free rides on Air Force One and pledging political support in exchange for backing the bill. He’s even been pitching points of the bill at individual meetings in the West Wing, and he’s publically attacked opponents of the bill in his own party.

The bill, which is scheduled for a vote on Tuesday, would grant the president Trade Promotion Authority or “fast track.”

If Congress gives Obama this power, lawmakers can vote up or down on a final trade agreement, but they lose the right to amend the deal or filibuster it. This bill adds another dimension: If legislatures think a final trade accord doesn’t meet their standards, Congress can vote to revoke the president’s authority, and then try to amend the deal.

The Trans-Pacific Accord would reduce tariffs on many goods and services and affect about 40 percent of US imports and exports. Obama has called it “the most progressive trade agreement in history.”

But, not everyone is buying.

Many opponents in the Democratic Party, who are aligned to labor unions against the bill, have vowed to oppose it.

Obama is turning to Republicans for support, but some, whose colleagues are aligned with the Tea Party, are having trouble giving Obama the win.

Still, the president and his allies are not slowing down on rallying for the bill.

Mitch Stewart, who has backed Obama’s presidential campaigns, established a well-funded group called Progressive Coalition for American Jobs to face organized labor groups as well as environmental and human rights organizations that have traditionally stood against the president’s views on trade.  

Obama even made a trip to Nike headquarters in Oregon, where he repeated the company’s pledge to create 10,000 US jobs if the trade accord passed.

The priority of job creation in America is also influencing several lawmakers to steer away from the bill, which focuses on “pivoting” foreign policy toward Asia by setting labor rules and establishing stronger investor protections for growing economies in the Pacific Rim.

“I understand the president’s desire to pull these countries away from China’s orb here, but I feel middle-class income decline is the greatest problem Americans face, and trade agreements exacerbate that decline,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer Schumer (D-NY).

Angus King, an independent from Maine, seemed to echo this view when he spoke about Obama’s visit to Nike, which has sent virtually all manufacturing roles to parts of Asia including Vietnam, a party to the accord.

King compared Obama’s visit to his own stop at the New Balance factory, which has pinned production to the US.

“I’ve been to those New Balance factories,” King said. “I’ve looked those people in the eye.”